CARGO PILLAGING.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 April 1921, Page 8

CARGO PILLAGING.

PORT OF LONDON LOSSES, [£3,500,000 IN ONE YEAR. LINEN THEFTS FROM STEAMER. London, February 10. For months past a representative committee of business men has been examining different aspects of the problem of the very serious pilferage of seaborne goods which is proceeding on a wholesale scale, and a deputation, representative of practically all the more important branches of the London transport industry, has been in consultation with the Home Secretary with a yiew to putting a slop to the abuse. The extent of the losses sustained in the shipping world owing to pilferage, theft, or robbery, of cargo in transit is indicated in a statement made by Lord Inchcape (head of the P. and O. Line;, who estimates that in the Port or London alone the loss was £3,500,000 last year. The wave of thieving which has spread over the country is a postwar trouble. Among the various causes to which it is said to be attributable are the high cost of living and lack of employment. Whatever the cause may be, the fact remains that where the goods are being conveyed on lorries, barges, ships, or by rail, pilfering goes on. It was almost .to be expected that the servants of the various companies concerned should come under suspicion, but the aspersion is unjustifiable. There have been innumerable prosecutions, and the overwhelming proportion have been against persons in no way connected with the transport companies. Only a few days ago a case of tinned meat was observed to have been tampered with. On examination it was found that two large tins had been extracted and, in their place, two granite setts inserted. To prevent any movement these were wedged tight with a newspaper published in New York, and of a date in 1919. The evidence is not conclusive, but it seems hardly likely that a man robbing a case a few days ago would provide himself with a New York paper a couple of years old. There is at any rate the suspicion that the pilfering was done before the meat was shipped from America. A precisely similar instance-may be quoted, this time -from the Argentine. A consignment of butter was being landed, and one of the cases aroused the suspicion of the officials. They found that it was filled, not with butter, but with earth, the ease being lined with Argentine newspapers. STRIPPING LINEN STOCKS. “Pilfering goes on, not only in the docks,” said the secretary of the Shipping Federation. “Even at sea a ship can be swept clean by thieves. Ships’ stores and fittings, and passengers’ belongings can all disappear and be sold in foreign parts.”

“We find that the thieves are most anxious to steal 4he ships’ linen,” declared the manager of one of the most important lines. “Just recently, I had to expend £2OOO in replacing linen alone lost on one journey to New Zealand, via Australia and back.” A list of stolen articles during the round trip included 1567 serviettes, 637 sheets, 800 bedroom towels, 240 bathroom toyvels, 1000 lavatory towels, 3/3 other towels, 268 bed slips, 158 dusters, 216 aprons, 342 kitchen and stewards’ cloths, 15. white counterpanes, and 10 bed-covers. The renewals for cutlery during the same voyage ran into hundreds of pounds. “Some of these things may be taken by the passengers,” said the same authority- “A lady may pack her boots in a pillow-slip to prevent them soiling articles of wear. But such enormous losses could only take place where stewards are slack and dishonest. The lack of loyalty among the stewards is certainly not due to low wages. STEWARDS’ OVERTIME. “On the same round trip on which the linen was lost the stewards’ charge for overtime alone was £2532. This was more than a third of their total earnings. Their standard wage is £l3 10s per month, all found. The captain’s boy charged £2B for overtime on the voyage. If the captain rings for the boy to bring him a drink there is a charge of one hour's overtime if the boy had already done his eight hours. On Sunday every steward charges at least 10 hours’ overtime when they are in dock, as they are then supposed to be off duty, and even on cargo steamers, where there are no passengers to employ them outside hours, there is a monthly charge of £6 or £7 per man from the stewards.” AN AUDACIOUS SUBSTITUTION.

The director of another shipping firm told of the substitution of “Six cases of machinery* for shipment were lying on the quay for several days,” he said. “A Customs officer noticed that a corner of one of the cases was surrounded by flies. Knowing that there should be no flies in machinery he had the case opened, and found it full of stable manure- opened the other five cases and in each found stable manure instead of machinery. One of our ships arrived in India with cases of new motor tyres of a well-known make. The cases arrived intact, but when they were opened it was discovered that in every one of them old worn-out tyres of various makes had been substituted for the new tyres.

“Recently a case supposed to contain gold and silver goods was found on arrival to be filled with rubbish. The bottom had be6n cleverly cut out and the goods abstracted in that way. The case had been under lock and key throughout the whole voyage. A case of shirts was found to contain woodwool shavings. An iron-bound case was emptied by having a panel neatly cut out of the bottom corner. Such things can only be done before the goods reach the ship. There is no room, no light, no opportunity for neat professional robberies of that type on board ship.” Another ; case is cited in which two cases of butter, from which some of the contents had been pilfered, were noticed to have been re-nailed with wire nails of a peculiar shape. Inquiries revealed that the supplier’s own warehouse was the only place to which the use of these peculiar nails could be traced.